The key facts

  • Meal prep of grains, meat and vegetables and freezing portions cut cooking time
  • Versatile products: eggs, cottage cheese, beans, tuna, grains, lavash
  • The oven, multicooker and air grill do not always save total time, but reduce active involvement

Meal prep and combining products

Meal prep, a stock of food in the freezer and using one base for different dishes help cut time spent cooking. X5 Club loyalty program expert Arina Samoilova told Gazeta.Ru about this. She advised cooking grains, meat and vegetables separately and then varying their combinations — that way you don't have to start dinner from scratch every evening or eat the same thing for several days in a row.

Freezing and versatile products

According to Samoilova, part of the cooked food can be frozen in portions — for example, soup, broth or sauce. Containers should be labeled with the contents and date, and it is better to use the refrigerator for defrosting. A quick lunch or dinner can be assembled from versatile products: eggs, cottage cheese, canned beans, tuna, grains and lavash — several different dishes can be made from them without complicated recipes.

Using leftovers

Food left over after dinner can be used differently: baked vegetables work for an omelet, chicken for a sandwich, rice for a dish with egg. This helps reduce both cooking time and the amount of food thrown away, the expert emphasized. For busy days, she suggested planning the purchase of individual ready-made dishes in advance instead of spontaneously ordering a large dinner in the evening.

Appliances and snacks

Another way to spend less time at the stove is to use the oven, a multicooker or an air grill. Samoilova explained that such appliances do not always reduce total cooking time, but they cut the time of active involvement: there is no need to constantly stand at the stove, stir or watch several pans. She also recommended keeping snack foods on hand — for example, nuts and whole-grain crispbread — for occasions when a meal has to be postponed. Earlier, Russians were advised to eat more filling dishes in autumn.